Retro ACTIVE Critiques

Thursday, April 14, 2016

'Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)' is too good an MJ song to be so underplayed. This video is an attempt to remedy that. It's also a companion piece for my previous dance-themed video, 'Last Dance: The Supercut'.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

'Grab ahold of my blues and just play them.' I began this project in December 2015. We lost two legends featured since I started, so this is now dedicated to David Bowie and Lemmy Kilmister. This video is a celebration of when musical artistry was all about the music––showcasing a great song by Kiki Dee, the first white, female, 'blue-eyed soul singer' from the UK accepted by a Motown label.

Monday, January 11, 2016

David Bowie gave me strength of spirit when I set out to shape-shift/fix my back years ago. And again, years later, when we decided to move to Berlin.A back issue I had as a kid solidified to something problematic by the time I graduated from college. In my early 20s, a recent grad, I was living in New York and realized I should fix my back before it managed to instruct (or obstruct) my life. I luckily had the foresight to know that I didn't want to wake up one day, middle-aged, and realize it was too late to adjust, so I figured I should work fast. I had enormous tension in my back which had gotten to the point where my nerves had grown numb, losing all feeling (a.k.a. I could not feel a chair––or even a cement bench––when I sat down, and it was starting to scare me.)

Turn And Face The StrangeWithout guidance, I decided to start my own treatment. It would prove to be a challenge. After years of being extremely self-motivated and working hard in school, here I was––young and in New York––but instead of feeling carefree I had this new, most vital and troublesome responsibility. Nevertheless, I found that I was able to visualize my back in a relaxed state and breathe accordingly to physically achieve that vision. A lot of breathing, expanding my core (instinctually), to the point where I'd get extremely relaxed and all built-up tension would gradually release. But moments later––since I wasn't physically used to having the tension gone––my back would tighten up again and it was painful. This would often lead to a sort of anxiety attack which was physical, not emotional––understandably, since I was trying to expel years of tension trapped within my physical form. I listened to Bowie's Hunky Dory album every day during that difficult stage. Bowies' songs and spirit helped and inspired me. It was a physically grueling process but I kept at it.

It's The Freakiest ShowI had already seen that the release of tension was possible in an extreme and transformative way, and I knew it would just take time to adjust to the changes. It took three years of diligence in total until my relaxed back 'stuck' in a way I could maintain. A lengthened back also meant more length to adjust to, and I wanted the process to be gradual enough so that the difference wouldn't freak my friends and family out too much. I was lucky to have the support of my then-boyfriend. It felt like a science-fiction story. The resulting changes were indeed evident––in a good way. It was obvious that the changes in my form were healthy, and of course my quality of life would be so much better with a comfortable back. 'Cause We Believe In YouTo this day I have a comfortable, tension-free back. I've always been thankful for David Bowie for being a source of strength during that difficult time. He gave me courage to do something unusual, but highly necessary. Because of David Bowie, I had more gumption to go through something isolated, shape-shifting, unusual. A metamorphoses. He gave me the figurative spine to correct my physical one.

Just A Mortal With The Potential Of A SupermanI have always been glad I came out on the other side of that experience perfectly fine, in no small part thanks to Bowie and those daily Hunky Dory listenings. A few years later, also while living in New York (by then also free of back tension) I passed Iman pushing their daughter in a stroller in the street in Soho and it made me feel ridiculously happy. Will You Stay In Our Lovers' Story?

I often credit Francoise Hardy (who's also had a huge impact on my life) with my marrying a Capricorn, because I Ioved her calm, grounded demeanor. But before her, David Bowie was my favorite Capricorn and I was intrigued by the idea of being with one because of him. So I'm also indebted to him for my being so immediately drawn to the person who would become my husband. When we made our decision to move to Berlin a year and a half ago, I had one simple thought: David Bowie. Even at this stage of life, Bowie was an effective inspiration. His love for Berlin gave me courage when it came time to create a new life in this city.

Every year in recent memory I have posted something to celebrate 'Elvis/Bowie day'. But for whatever reason, this year on his birthday I felt like being silent. I had no idea he was not well, I just know something made me take pause. While heartbroken at this loss, I thank him from the bottom of my heart––and my spine––for the quality of life I've been able to have since I fixed my back. On top of all that, there's the music, the films, his incredible legacy. Everything. I hope he is resting peacefully.

As an editor who’s also a dancer, this was a joy to make. I hope every dancer––or dance enthusiast––will enjoy watching it. The song 'Last Dance’ was featured in the disco film ‘Thank God It’s Friday’. It won an Academy Award for Best Song in 1978.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Sir Roger More played the role of James Bond for the Bond franchise seven times. This video tribute is comprised of 7 short-form music videos. Each segment highlights Moore's presence as 007 within each film, along with its corresponding title song: Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me ('Nobody Does It Better'), Moonraker, Octopussy ('All Time High'), For Your Eyes Only, and A View To A Kill.

Fellow Moore fans will agree that nobody does it better. Also evident is wherein my 007 film loyalties lie. The Man With The Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker are showcase pieces here, including memorable sound bites. The Spy Who Loved Me captures all that epitomizes the franchise.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

This supercut features a selection of leading ladies from a century of motion pictures (from the 1910s to the 2010s.) Titles in era-appropriate typeface include decade(s) during which each cinema queen reigned. The song is 'She's A Lady' by Tom Jones. Notable takeaways: Starting with Ann-Margret, several ladies break the fourth wall, ushering in the new wave; Catherine Deneuve has had most longevity as a leading lady.

I've been 100% vegetarian, and then vegan, for a solid lifetime at this point––despite the fact that no one immediately around me has been. It's not a lifestyle I acquired from or consistently shared with anyone. Good thing I was never concerned with 'fitting in' and never gave the alienation aspect much thought. I'd always had a live and let live, free-will attitude, so I was never too concerned with other people's choices. Nor were they with mine, since I never really talked about it.
Being a vegetarian was never a 'phase' or a decision, it's just who I am and I never felt like it was a big deal. However, if one were to 'calculate' the number of lives spared by my dietary choices, being a vegetarian/vegan in itself can be a rather significant animal rights contribution (approximately 4,700 beings designated as 'farm animals' have been spared in my case.)

The vegetarian McCartney family on their farm in the 1970's

I feel increasingly discomforted that, given our access to information and exposure to what goes on in the sadistic meat and dairy industries, more people are not becoming vegetarian/vegan (and at a faster rate.) This global love of animal flesh, en masse, supports monstrous industries and a human obsession with 'culture' and 'traditions'. Not reality, not truth.

Entire cultures throughout human history have lived as vegetarians. Longtime vegetarian and animal rights activist Mary Tyler Moore once said she believes a meat-free diet will sooner or later be the norm. "It may take a while,” she told Time magazine. "But there will probably come a time when we look back and say, 'Good Lord, do you believe that in the 20th century and early part of the 21st, people were still eating animals?'"

Animal rights activist/lifelong vegetarian Mary Tyler Moore

Hard to believe we're no closer to this eventuality now than back when MTM said it. Her past optimism is similar to mine during my 20's, and we share the same beliefs. But my optimism has waned in recent years. Today, apathy and ignorance are inexcusable. People consciously choose cruelty when they have other choices. Which is unsettling for me, personally.

Think to how long ago The Smiths recorded 'Meat Is Murder'. Morrissey has been an impressive pioneer, speaking out on the topic of this exploitative behavior without fail, while others haven't.

The Smiths, Meat Is Murder; Morrissey has been consistent

The reason these outdated behaviors, ones entirely lacking respect for the nature and the lives of our fellows, have continued––and even expanded to outlandish, mass proportions––is that there are bullying industries out there who want to profit from the choices people are willing to make.

Paul & Linda McCartney, lifelong vegetarians/animal rights activists

All anyone really needs to do to make a big difference is to stop supporting those industries immediately. And to say something about it. Live and let live (and free will) applies to all species. So I do talk about it these days. I stayed quiet for a very long time.

Paul McCartney continues to share the compassionate message

I'll take this one out with lifelong vegetarian and animal rights activist Paul McCartney with his co-veggie, Linda McCartney––who together raised anti-fur/anti-cruelty fashion designer Stella McCartney.

I had only seen 'Grosse Pointe Blank' (1996) once, years ago. I watched it again recently and noted how its rhythm, screenplay, soundtrack all have a distinctively 90's feel. All in the best way possible.

I also appreciated something else: Several times in the course of the film, the characters express concern and compassion for animals. In dialog, alone. For example, when the two leads are getting reacquainted after a 10-year gap, John Cusack's (professional assassin) character explains he doesn't have a wife but he has a very nice cat, and when Minnie Driver's character tells him that's not the same thing, he responds: 'You don't know my cat. It's very demanding.' To that, Driver's character asks (baffled): 'It? You don't know if it's a boy or a girl?' To which he replies: 'I respect its privacy.' For someone who believes in respecting all species –– because non-humans are their own persons, not things –– this pointed dialog in the midst of conversation in an action-comedy film was refreshing to hear.

Later, when Dan Akroyd's character (Grocer) meets with Cusack's (Blank) for a surprise breakfast, they discuss the controversial error Cusack's character made during a previous job which cost an innocent dog, called Budro, his life. Cusack's character is noticeably upset and says: 'Budro was never a target. Budro was acting on instinct. I would never hurt an animal. I'm offended at the accusation.' Another welcome surprise. This is how two tough assassins can talk in an action-comedy film? Seems like a different world than the one we have today when people shamelessly brag about 'hunting' and killing other species in various capacities. But the clincher was how they ordered their breakfasts! Here's the script from the point when the waitress enters the scene:

WAITRESS: Hi, my name is Melanie. Let me tell you about some of our specials. Today there's the Alfalfa on My Mind. That's our featured omelet. Or there's Gatsby's West Egg Omelet. If in the mood for something different, there's the I Left My Heart in San Francheezie.

BLANK: What'll you have?

GROCER: Two poached eggs. Scrape off the milky white stuff. Hash browns well done. English muffin for the bread, and a coffee.

BLANK: Wholegrain pancakes and an egg-white omelet, please.

WAITRESS: What would you like in your omelet?

BLANK: Nothing in the omelet.

WAITRESS: That's not technically an omelet.

BLANK: I don't wanna get in a semantic argument. I just want the protein, all right?

Their options and their choices are not vegan –– but it's all decidedly vegetarian. This is a far cry from what any action-comedy film would include in a food discussion between two manly assassins. There would be plenty of talk about slaughtered animals without the slightest semblance of concern for their welfare. I was frankly amazed to hear this sort of food conversation casually taking place in a mainstream film. And it wasn't that their vegetarian food choices were an issue. This was obviously just normal for these characters.

This past Christmas, my husband and I decided to watch a Christmas movie we hadn't seen before. We were in the midst of watching a 90's mainstream (awkward, inconsistent) family film called 'Jingle All The Way', starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, when something remarkable happened; a supporting character emphatically told a woman on the street: 'You shouldn't wear fur!' Just like that. In a mainstream-Arnold Schwarzenegger-family-comedy-from-the-90's. The lady was undoubtedly considered a villain.

I saw this again in one of the most successful and mainstream TV shows for the 90's, 'Frasier'. In one episode, Frasier mentions how he knows Maris will react dramatically (as the never-seen but oft-discussed Maris was prone to do.) He says: "She doesn't deal with confrontation very well. I once questioned the political correctness of her serving veal. An hour later, we found her locked in the garage with the engine running on her golf cart!' A TV character known to be food snob was willing to discuss the cruelty involved in serving veal in the 90's. We never hear anything remotely like this on TV today. So again, what happened?

Here's another example I noticed recently in the midst of what I consider to be a dismally bad film. In the film 'Switch' starring Ellen Barkin, the character played by JoBeth Williams wears a fur coat, and an alarmed woman passerby stops her and says: "Do you know how many poor animals they had to kill to make that coat!?" Again, this relatively mainstream Blake Edwards film was released in 1991. Following diligent activism decades prior, the 1990's upheld an existing narrative and everyday people were disenchanted by the entitled and self-serving woman who was willing to wear a fur coat. So what happened since, allowing the fur industry to seep back into fashion?

With these separate, random examples, it's quite obvious that compassion reached the masses decades ago, despite the fact that today we have far more knowledge and exposure to the tragic cruelties that exist in industries that exploit the lives of non-human animals. I am so proud of the activists who struggled to build that level of awareness so that people were choosing to be relatively conscious back in the 90's. It's heartbreaking that a couple of decades later, we see how entitlement and greed came back full force to eliminate all of the progress that was made before, taking us many steps backwards.

Indeed, we should be looking back at the 90's and seeing how much we have progressed from that time to be coexisting respectfully along with our fellow Earth-dwellers –– instead, we have this. Things are for worse today. Farm factories, fur factories, even canned hunting factories. It's truly abominable to see where we are today. Those struggling to encourage a compassionate lifestyle must constantly swim against a tide of overwhelming force.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Heartbreaking Plight of Badfinger, Not Unlike That of Other Exploited Animals

Innocents who suffered terribly for the sins of those in power, Badfinger were like factory farm animals of the music industry in the 1970's. This footage (below) is deeply sad if you look closely. They are so pale. There is no joy behind their eyes. Here was the first group to be signed by Apple Records (until Stan Polley tricked them into leaving and ruined them.) They were incredibly respected by their peers for years. And yet, they appear embarrassed on camera. It's the look of poverty.
They were working on recordings at a country home where this promotional footage was filmed. At the time when this was shot, they couldn't afford much food, let alone spiffy clothes. They certainly don't look like hit-making rock stars, although they very much were. They seem weak as they play their instruments. And they are painfully shy in the exterior shots.

Theirs is the darkest 'behind the music' nightmare story. These sensitive, gentle artists did not put up a fight or make their struggles public. They were so young. They had hit records. They should have been enjoying their success. Their records sold big, made a few greedy people plenty of money. There's such joy in this 'power-pop' song; 'No Matter What' would soon be shooting up the charts.

The band was trapped into evil contracts by abusive management. And no one helped them. There were those who could have helped them. (People knew, but kept quiet, kept living their good lives.) Those who knew (Macca? Lennon? Nillson?) must have carried plenty of guilt for after sweet and talented Pete Ham killed himself, following years of this trouble. Pete Ham felt responsible for his bandmates and worried that he couldn't take care of his little family financially, all whilst he had hits on the radio.
Imagine hearing your chart-topping songs everywhere –– even one that became a 'standard' recorded 200+ times by other artists, 'Without You' –– and being too poor to buy a pint at the pub. They were famous rock stars unable to afford to care for their loved ones. Meanwhile, their contemporaries partied, rode around in limos and wasted all their money. The two guys from Swansea and two from Wales who made up Badfinger were trapped in music industry hell. Tom Evans offed himself some time after Ham.

This is so-called 'humanity'. Those in power (i.e. Big AG –– and in the case of Badfinger, evil Stan Polley) take advantage of those who are gentle. The ones who should be defended, and protected. Not slaughtered. Human greed is a serial killer as every industry proves. The fact that we live in a world in which sadistic factory farms, canned hunting farms, fur farms, etc. are legal is beyond disturbing.
Meanwhile, the blissfully ignorant choose to remain blind to all of this suffering. Apathy helps maintain the cycle of cruelty. There is no difference which species suffers quietly. It's always tragic, always preventable. One only has to look to see.
Badfinger is the band that died for all the sins of the music industry. Just one industry in this sick, twisted world filled with humans who destroy one another –– and more troubling, humans choosing to destroy the lives of all other species.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

While I was in the process of putting together my final 'dress up & review' for the mid-season finale of 'Mad Men' –– a series published at Examiner.com recently –– I dabbled with the year 1970 again. This dress has the semblance of a blouse, belt, and long skirt combo, but it is actually a one-piece gown. The dress immediately reminded me of MTM's mid-western American style on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'.

Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) wore a very similar look for her (disastrously funny) party in the wonderful S1E2 episode, 'Today I Am A Ma'am'. The episode aired on September 26, 1970. Despite being only the second episode of the esteemed sitcom, it is one of the funniest of the entire series –– which ran from 1970 until 1977.

In it, Mary and Rhoda (Valerie Harper) fret over being single and having crossed over into the 'ma'am' territory. They decide to invite dates to Mary's apartment on the fly. Rhoda invites someone she barely knows, only to realize that she had unwittingly invited a married couple as her 'date'. Hilarity ensues.

Monday, June 2, 2014

(Originally published for Vintage Fashion at Examiner.com.)THE LOOK~ The dress looks like a giant bandanna: Red, white, blue, and all-American. The look I went for was 'Made in
the U.S.A.' This is sportswear. My hairstyle remains a nod to a Brit, Jean Shrimpton. But the cut of this dress is very 1969 California
girl (strikingly similar, even, to what Bonnie wore on her shopping spree
in S7E6.)While the 1960s were heavily influenced by British and French
pop culture juggernauts––The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Mary Quant,
Shrimpton, Twiggy, Bardot, etc.–– the decade that immediately followed was all about the
Americans.

In the 1970s, where 'Mad Men' is heading fast,
British bands channeled American country-western, and rhythm and blues. One British band decided to call themselves America. The Eagles soared.
Karen Carpenter's voice graced the airwaves. Steve McQueen was the
world's biggest movie star. Mary Tyler Moore, 'The Brady Bunch' and
'Charlie's Angels' took over television.

Speaking of which, there were
those natural blondes: Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Tiegs, Christie Brinkley.
Fresh-faced, tan, sporty. Their look was all the rage, and Halston was
the king of fashion.

The transition from the 1960s to the 1970s
brought about a cultural shift towards all things sporty and American––but 'Mad Men' has always decidedly been about Americans. Megan, the
Canadian, has been one of few exceptions, and we might see much less
of her when the show returns. The other notable foreigner was Lane
Price, who worried about the status of his residency in the U.S. until
he (sadly) let his British stiff-upper-lip mentality get the best of
him. And since the mid-season finale aired over Memorial Day weekend,
this red, white, and blue bandanna dress also felt like a great fit for
that American holiday. Especially because Vietnam War continues to loom
heavy in 1969. What else might this dress signify?THE ANECDOTE~ The 'Mad Men' mid-season finale, entitled 'Waterloo', notably features
the moon landing––a major coup for The United States. Apollo 11 landed
on the moon on July 20, 1969. (My personal connection with this is substantial: my father was an aerospace engineer for NASA in the early-to-mid-1960s. His mission was helping to build the Apollo space shuttle.)Meanwhile, when thinking about this
bandanna dress, I started to think about biker counterculture in 1969.
We're sure to see or hear about Altamont when 'Mad Men' returns next
year, either peripherally or directly. The Altamont Speedway Free
Festival took place on December 6, 1969, and it came to symbolize the
final nail in the casket of the peace-and-love movement of the
late-1960s.

But let's take a closer look at July, 1969, where the mid-season finale left off... 'Easy Rider' was released on July 14, 1969, exactly one week before
the moon landing. Now it all makes sense. We know Ted Chaough goes to
the movies. It's very likely he saw 'Easy Rider' the week it
was released. Right before his big move of frightening clients while
flying them in his plane. And what about his being adamant about wanting
out of the advertising industry altogether?Supposing someone like Ted had
just seen 'Easy Rider'––kindly, idealistic Ted would've certainly identified with
Peter Fonda's character, Wyatt, who was also called Captain America(!). As
in, the captaining of a plane. Just like Ted. Or the captain of a space
shuttle on its way to the moon.

'Easy Rider' had a profound
impact on men who longed for personal freedom, men who fancied the idea of being cowboys riding away on steel horses. While Ted's predicament could
have been explored much more deeply, there didn't seem to be adequate
time to explore every vital character's life in the span of those seven
episodes. He was undoubtedly displaying this particular type of longing
before he reluctantly agreed to 'sell out' again for the sake of the other partners.None of this was addressed in 'Waterloo', but I strongly suspect Matthew Weiner and the
'Mad Men' writers were alluding to this counterculture mentality (one
further catalyzed by the mainstream popularity of 'Easy Rider') via Ted
Chaough's behavior.

THE REVIEW~ ‘Waterloo’, the mid-season finale of ‘Mad Men’, begins and ends with
Bert Cooper. We first see Cooper sitting alone, watching the televised
lift-off of Apollo 11. He stares in awe as the space shuttle launches,
then utters a childlike, happy sigh.

Cut to Ted Chaough, captaining his small plane, containing two nervous fellas from Sunkist. They talk about the Apollo 11 mission; Ted suggests that the astronauts might die, before he shuts off the engine mid-flight. While the clients freak out, Ted shrugs and says: ‘You wanted to go up in the plane. We went up in the plane.’ Cutler and Pete (needless to say) are furious with Ted when they discuss the incident later on the phone; Ted explains that he doesn’t want to die, he only wants out of the business.

Betty’s
college friend, Caroline, arrives at the Francis home along with her
entire family. This visit must be Betty’s way of driving home the fact
that she went to college to Henry, and to her kids; she’s following up
on her earlier declaration of intellect by introducing physical evidence
of her academic history. Caroline has two sons: a nerdy teenager named
Neil (in a much-too-direct correlation with Apollo 11) who’s upset
because he can’t find his telescope, and the older teenager –– a tan and
highly athletic type named Sean who’s considering football
scholarships. Sean and Sally give each other the heavy look-over when
introduced. Betty reminds Bobby that he has a telescope and Neil’s face
lights up. Back at SC&P, The Burger Chef team meets for a final
run-through of their big pitch. When Harry asks, Don recommends that he
take the partnership deal he’s been offered, without negotiating. If
only Harry had run out to sign those papers, then and there.

Peggy
gets a date with Nick, the handsome repairman installing her drop
ceiling tiles at home. ‘It’s so hot in here,’ she says. Ceilings in this
episode (again, too-directly) allude to the space pioneers heading to
the moon, as well as the glass ceilings that female pioneers like Peggy
are tackling. Betty chats with Caroline in the kitchen; when the subject
of Don comes up, Betty explains their current relationship: ‘I’m
starting to think of him as an old, bad boyfriend. Someone a teenage
anthropologist would marry.’ As if on cue, shirtless Sean (or mini-Don
Draper) walks into the kitchen. Sally (or mini-Betty) also stops by,
sporting a freshly styled ‘big’ hairdo and makeup on her way to
life-guarding.

Clueless Meredith (apart from her obvious social
limitations, the poor girl also has notably terrible taste in clothes)
shows Don the Cutler-initiated ‘breach-of-contract’ letter –– which will
quickly escalate into huge changes at the agency. Don, furious,
confronts Cutler, then calls out all of the partners from their offices.
When Harry shows up, Joan reminds him he’s not a partner yet. Bert
yells at Cutler: ‘You had no right to put my name on that!’ They take a
vote to keep Don. Pete is also infuriated by Cutler’s tactless move.
Despite being the only other partner to vote against Don, Joan
disapprovingly tells Cutler: ‘You shouldn’t have done that.’ Peggy has
an emotional moment with Julio, the neighbor boy to whom she’s been a
surrogate mother. He tells her he has to move away to Newark and that he
doesn’t want to go. They hug and cry. While her ceiling now looks
pristine, some aspects of Peggy’s inner life still need attention.

Don
calls Megan, who's sitting on her deck in a bikini, drinking white
wine, reading a script. She also has a telescope nearby. It's another
thematic image –– one of looking out into the distance or the future ––
that repeats in this episode. When Don brings up the possibility of a
permanent move to L.A., something Megan seemed to have wanted for so
long, she essentially ends their marriage on the phone.

There will be
speculation as to why Megan did this: why now, why this way? But Megan
is pragmatic, focused. There has been a distinctive pattern with Megan
during this season, and it rings true with a determined actress trying
to make it in Hollywood. As an unknown starlet, being married would've
never been a great selling point in landing her a role. Sad as it is to
say, Megan is more focused on her career than on saving her marriage.

(After all, being self-absorbed is a prerequisite for success in
Hollywood.) While Megan had it in her to be an empathetic, connected
human being, successful in some other type of creative field, this is
the path she has chosen. And she is trying to stick with it. With their
bi-coastal marriage, she felt like she could juggle both worlds; when
Don offers to move (something she claimed she wanted, during times of
frustration over her career) she immediately cuts off that part of her
life in favor of the other. Which is why she cries and looks so terribly
sad (and terribly sorry) when she tells him: ‘You don’t owe me
anything.’ She feels guilty, because this is her choice. And she still
loves Don. But again: she is being pragmatic. It’s a crushing scene for
Don, and for those of us who rooted for them.

Roger and Bert have
their final conversation, in which Bert is intentionally discouraging
enough to compel Roger to rise to the occasion and prove himself a
leader. Bert mentions Napolean and Waterloo. The Burger Chef team flies
to Indianapolis. Pete compares Ted to Lane Price and suggests that Don
heads up the L.A. office, and Don lets Pete know that ‘there’s no reason
to go to L.A.’ Pete realizes Don and Megan have ended it and gives us
another Pete Campbell nugget: ‘Marriage is a racket!’

The moon
landing happens. Everyone watches Neil Armstrong take his first steps on
the moon from their respective homes, with their respective families.
Important to note: every member of the Burger Chef team watching TV
together from their Indiana hotel room (Pete, Harry, Peggy, and Don)
would have watched the moon landing alone, otherwise. So, as Peggy’s
Burger Chef pitch suggests, Burger Chef even brought this team together,
in this moment, as a pseudo-family.

Roger and his family watch together, minus ‘Marigold’. Bert Cooper watches with his maid, and he says what becomes his last word on the show (until he sings us out): ‘Bravo.’ At Betty’s house, Sean sours the mood for everyone by sharing a popular sentiment among angst-ridden youth of the time: the cost of this mission was too steep. Don, being the loving father he is, calls to speak with his children so they may share this important memory together. Sally (ever the teenage girl) immediately adopts the cynical P.O.V. Sean just blurted out, but Don quickly manages to reverse this by asking Sally if she wants her little brothers to think that way.

Roger
also receives a phone call in the midst of the moon landing and finds
out that Bert Cooper, his father figure, has passed away. Cutler’s
determination to rid the agency of Don, which he immediately mentions
again, prompts Roger to take action against Cutler’s vision of the
future, which consists solely of computers instead of people. (‘It’s the
agency of the future.’) Speaking of futures, out in the backyard, Sally
kisses the teenage scientist named Neil as if to reverse any indication
that she is like her mother, someone who makes herself pretty and
adopts a handsome guy’s thoughts instead of thinking for herself. When
she kisses Neil, she offers herself hope that she has another future in
store. Roger tells Don about Bert and they console one another. Don
tells Peggy to deliver the Burger Chef pitch. Despite her trepidation,
he insists she’s ready. He believes in her. Don is certainly doing
everything right, and it’s inevitable that his luck is about to change.

And
that change (for the future) does come, in the form of Roger as leader.
Roger makes a deal with McCann Erickson to buy out SC&P. Meanwhile,
Peggy delivers a flawless pitch and wins the Burger Chef account.

The
next day, Roger tells the partners they will be rich if they take the
McCann deal. When Joan finds out just how rich, she’s immediately on
board, and ecstatic. (Harry pops in for the meeting, but misses the
boat, again. A huge boat this time. ‘I’ll take the deal! But he's too
late.) Cutler argues against the deal, and Don. Again. Roger explains:
‘All they care about is me, Don and Ted.’ Ted insists he doesn’t want to
be in the business. But Don talks Ted into it by candidly describing
his own recent struggles in trying to regain his career. They move to
vote and everyone, including Cutler, votes yes. To everyone's surprise.
But Cutler explains: ‘It’s a lot of money!’ Consistent indeed.

The mid-season finale ends with a surreal ‘soft sock’ dance and song by Bert Cooper. It's an appropriate send-off for an actual song-and-dance man: ‘The moon belongs to everyone. The best things in life are free!’